While most racing titles that have made the inevitable migration to the PSP have offered stripped down versions for the Sony hand held, the team behind Juiced: Eliminator obviously decided to make the game as close to other versions as possible. Rather than trimming down the fancy bits that helped define Juiced as a street racing game, they left them in. This is both a good and a bad thing.
On the upside, Juice Games has delivered a very complete racer for the PSP, at least in terms of vehicle modification, crew management and so forth. The downside, as with many PSP titles that approach a more complicated game dynamic, is the player is saddled with far too many load times which become tedious after only a few races. The slick switching of interfaces that graced the PC and PS2 versions of Juiced is replaced with excessive down time as the player waits for the game to catch up.
Graphically, this is one of the finer hand held racers around. The developers took full advantage of the PSP`s large, clear screen. The environments are detailed and vibrant without being confusing, and the vehicles themselves are well modelled and look like the real thing. High quality cut scenes are displayed every now and then as the player progresses through the game, with better than average voice acting adding to the title`s overall entertainment value. The audio side of the game is good, on the whole, with realistic sound effects complemented by a good selection of in-game songs.
Arcade style
The game itself is all about becoming the top dog of the street circuit. It allows the player to race, bet on races, manage racing crews and modify vehicles to an almost obscene degree. What it doesn`t do is bring across a very realistic driving experience. Granted, it is played on a pocket sized platform, but the ham-handed physics and non-existent damage model (the only noticeable omission when considering previous versions of Juiced) mean the game just doesn`t have the right feel. This is something that will irk racing simulation fans. Those that prefer their racing action to be a little more "arcade style" won`t be complaining too much, but hard-core fans of the more serious side of the genre will be reaching for torches and pitchforks.
Juiced: Eliminator will fall prey to the same syndrome that plagued its predecessors: gamers will either love it, or hate it. It can hardly be considered a quick distraction - what with those long load times - but the overall complexity of the game makes for a rather compelling experience. The driving model may not be the best we`ve ever seen, but putting together a crew (not to mention an impressive stable of cars) can be more fun than it initially seems.
Perhaps that alludes to the game`s biggest problem. The developers tried to create a game that is part-driving, part-management, and ended up with a game where the management is almost more important than the driving.
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